They Actually Finished Building the Plank Road?! (Continued)

Then...

She closed her eyes.

Think.

As she pondered, she mentally constructed a model of the room's layout and furnishings—the entrance hall, the soft carpet, the elegant and spacious table and chair decorations, the wardrobe, the full-length mirror, and the excessively large bed that, strictly speaking, could comfortably accommodate five people at the same time.

As well as.

The black and red greatsword, placed by the bedside, burns silently, yet ignites nothing.

—Laevateinn.

She thought to herself. There were some things she only wanted her sword to know, even at this moment.

—Tell me, will this new lifestyle of mine, this new way of interacting with people, benefit my continued activities on this land? Will it allow me to live a better life?

The sword did not answer, as always— Laevateinn always did this unless she expected Laevateinn to protect her, or had been holding a non-thrown weapon for too long. Otherwise, Laevateinn would never respond to her.

It doesn't generate heat, doesn't emit light, and certainly doesn't speak.

But Surtr doesn't really need an answer—unless Laevateinn actually gives her one.

—I think it's not bad. Although people's attitudes towards me seem to have changed somewhat after I changed my behavior, I think it's still within the realm of what I can adapt to. However, this new behavior pattern makes me feel like I'm a little... weak.

—Oh, correction. I've always been weak. It's just that my weaknesses have probably become a little more numerous.

The sword remained silent—she knew it understood her thoughts. But it had no intention of responding.

She couldn't help but recall the past, a point in time some period ago. Back then, she had studied the Burning Time technique—the flames that reversed established facts—by analyzing Persephone's Time Reversion method. The source of her mastery of this skill stemmed from a threat she had faced.

A very old-fashioned threat: a kind of pleasure monster, similar to the Joker in the DC universe, designed a series of traps that she couldn't handle and then imprisoned a friend she had a good relationship with inside. The pleasure monster gave her two options: either she go to a nearby city and kill a few innocent passersby, or she watch her friend be killed by the traps.

However, her choice was to break the spine of this pleasure-seeking monster with a single punch, and then carry the half-dead creature to the location of the mechanism. Her friend, trapped inside the mechanism, had become a cold corpse, but in the next moment, the Flame of Burning Time that erupted from the depths of her heart reversed her fate.

She still remembered the shrieks and grotesque laughter that the Pleasure Monster let out in its last moments.

"So you're not human! You're not a god! You don't care about anything, you only care about the result! How ridiculous...

She crushed the head of the pleasure monster, then resurrected it with the flames of burning time. Then, she rewound the timelines of both the perpetrator and the victim, until the limits of her power were reached.

Ah... I remember now. This Pleasure Monster was once a friend of Miss Surtr. There was even a deep friendship between the perpetrators outside the organization and the victims inside. And this act could perhaps be seen as a sacrifice in essence.

A pointless sacrifice.

She remembered watching a movie in her past life, Dawn of Justice *, which was also a story set in the DC universe. In the story, the most intelligent mortal kidnapped the mortal foster mother of a god. Therefore, even the god had to kneel before the mortal, completely at their beck and call.

She is not a god. She doesn't think she is.

So, when she's in the same position, she'll simply smash this clever person's head in, and then try to find a way to rescue her adoptive mother. Whether she succeeds or fails, the final outcome will be determined by her own abilities. Because she absolutely does not trust the thoughts or judgments of anyone other than herself.

She didn't believe her enemies would keep their promises, nor did she believe her friends would be loyal. Because if you don't hold any hope, you won't reap any despair.

Ah... she no longer remembered who that pleasure monster was, nor did she remember what her friend, who had voluntarily been imprisoned in the facility, looked like or what his name was—even though it had only happened a few years ago. But such meaningless information naturally wouldn't linger in her mind for long.

—Mortals fear me, dread me, and are wary of me.

—That's a bit strange to say, since I feel like I'm just an ordinary person. But some people always say I'm not ordinary, so I'll just pretend to be one for them.

Lost in thought, she gently touched her sword.

—But if that's the case, Laevateinn ... you say, if we continue this lifestyle, this way of thinking, will similar incidents become less frequent? Then I can continue being your tool in my spare time, and maybe one day something good will happen...

—Tsk, I've said something stupid again.

—There's nothing good in this world. Disasters are always hidden beneath beautiful moments. The only one I can rely on is you... Ah, if I were in the dream world, I'd probably only have myself... Although the dream world seems to have changed somewhat now.

The girl sighed softly deep within her mind.

The world she had constructed in her mind crumbled, and everything except the sword turned into pure black and white. One side was pure black, the other pure white. Black and white did not represent any special meaning, but in her eyes, two different paths were presented.

Left or right, forward or backward, black or white—stagnation or change.

—Laevateinn, if I wanted to, I could actually go back now. Back to two days ago, back to a time when nothing could sway my resolve. The process would be troublesome, but the price wouldn't be unbearable. If you think I was better two days ago. I could even kill the new self that was born in those two days.

She waited—she had already foreseen the outcome.

She was expecting—but she never actually had any hope.

In the end, Laevateinn simply leaned quietly against her. Motionless, unchanging.

—Is that so? I see. You won't interfere with me, you won't influence me. You won't choose my path for me... You want me to decide for myself, to walk my own path.

Black and white suddenly disintegrated. Under the cover of night, the girl opened her eyes.

"Well then," she said softly, "Goodnight, Laevateinn."

She closed her eyes once more, and sleep began. Beside her, the sword, as always, radiated a warmth and soft glow that only she could enjoy.

This was true in the past, it is true now, and it will not change in the future.

Miss Surtr opened her eyes.

She rejected the call of the dream world and did not cross that gateway between worlds.

Even so, she did not simply stay in the Mobile City on the ground.

Her body may still remain there, but her spirit has gone elsewhere. What appears in her eyes is a novel and unique expression; when her gaze focuses, it is a vast and boundless Reeds Field.

"... Surtr?"

A suppressed gasp came from not far away. She turned her head, and unsurprisingly, Theresia's signature long pink and white hair came into view.

"How did you get here... how did you get here!?"

"There are very few places in this world that I could never go back to after visiting them once. Compared to the distance between worlds, this place..." Miss Surtr looked around, and all she could see were swaying reeds. "...Although it is rather remote, it cannot stop me."

"I came because I wanted to."

She carefully observed the swaying of the reeds, and their seemingly disordered yet rhythmic movement inspired her.

Breathe.

This reed bed, this land, this endless sky and the clouds above it, all resonate with the breath of something.

Very powerful. Incredibly powerful. If a fight were to break out, regardless of who wins or loses, this entire world would certainly be shattered and the whole of Terra would suffer—a great disaster.